


Sweeping Insensitivity

by S J Hartsfield (abbykate)



Series: Hide and Seek [8]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: But sometimes he's not, M/M, Sherlock is a douche
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-30
Updated: 2012-05-30
Packaged: 2017-11-06 07:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/416425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbykate/pseuds/S%20J%20Hartsfield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two things draw John Watson’s attention: danger and hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweeping Insensitivity

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the scheme: Jill decided that she, abbykate, and S.J. Hartsfield should all take lines from Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" and use them as titles for drabbles. They each picked five. They will be posted as a series, in the order in which they fall in the song.

“Not good?”

Sometimes he asks.  When he asks, John hopes against hope that he really _wants_ to be good, that he’s asking for reference, for some unspoken next time.  But he never corrects himself, never makes an attempt to back-pedal, alter what he’s said or apologize for it.  John tells him no, bit not good, very not good, not even remotely good, and it changes nothing.

It’s very frustrating.

It bothers him most when women or children are involved, because John is a chivalrous man at heart (he can’t help it – Harry’s the same way really, it’s just how they were brought up).  So when Sherlock makes some off-handed remark about about a husband’s “obvious” infidelity or tells a couple of children that their grandfather’s been taken to a special room and burned, John’s righteous hackles raise.  Sometimes he reprimands him, his name sharply barked and bled through with disappointment.  Other times he stays quiet, mouth drawn thin, but doesn’t bother to hide the fury in his eyes.  Fury he knows Sherlock sees (because he sees everything).  Let him see.  He needs to know, one way or another, that what he’s said is wrong.

He’s never sure it will make a difference.  Not really.  But he saw something in Sherlock during their very first case that makes him think it just might.  Sherlock had been flippant with him – “Use your imagination!” – and when John told him he didn’t have to, there had been a flash, a lightning strike of remorse that made John think _maybe he’s not a sociopath after all_. 

Since then, that philosophy had been challenged time and again.

Just as soon as he was ready to be convinced that Sherlock was beyond hope, that he really had no idea how proper human beings function and feel, he’d catch glimmers.  Sherlock would laugh with him, face splitting into a wide, genuine smile.  Sherlock would hand him a cup (empty, but thoughtful in its way).  Sherlock would play something on his violin, a song impossible for someone without emotion.  And John would begin his mission all over again.

Two things draw John Watson’s attention: danger and hope.  And Sherlock Holmes, damn him, gives him both of those things, whether he knows it or not.


End file.
